The construction of 22 churches for Turin's periphery (1965-1977)

Abstract

The episcopate years of Father Michele Pellegrino "delivered" a large number of religious complexes to the city of Turin and its surroundings. The bishop participated as an advisor and expert in religious building strategies at the Second Vatican Council, and tried to mediate between the reformist impulse of the Council and the social and cultural changes that characterized the 60s and 70s in Italy.
In the city of Turin, from 1965 to 1977 twenty-two parish churches were built, all located in the industrialized periphery, where they were most urgently needed; they were very different from the usual religious architecture, rising between rows of tall buildings and without cult elements preserved to characterize them. The urban situation of Turin determined not only the peripheral location of the newly built churches, but also their high number, as well as the emergency planning that characterized that architectural model of cult buildings. The "religious equipment" were some of the social services considered indispensable in the new residential areas. In the peripheral areas, the absence of a church meant that there was nothing to promote social aggregation, especially that needed by the population that came from the south of Italy, and also meant a drastic reduction in religious practice. The parish centers had to respond to the urgent needs of the area, lending themselves to many uses throughout the week, except on Sundays, when they only acted as a church.
For this reason, the morphology of the cult building became secondary, and technological innovation and prefabrication helped to build churches quickly. This unknown history of a construction process that was repeated for more than twenty times in the periphery of Turin was matched well with the reform of the ecclesiastical liturgy and the secular world. The church was no longer a monument, but the House between the houses of the Christian community; "Poor" among the poor.